But the Government is treating the aims, also known as the Global Goals, as a ‘developing world issue’ and has no clear plan to implement them in the UK, the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee has warned.

Instead, the committee suggests, the goals should be used as the basis for building cross-party consensus to guide sustainable development post-Brexit.

Businesses can contribute strongly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and unlock new market opportunities by using credible voluntary sustainability standards, a new report from WWF has claimed.

The report, released earlier this week, illustrates how multi-stakeholder standards can help companies to reach their targets by scaling-up sustainability practices across their supply chain. Standards provide concrete measures which can move whole industries towards environmental advance and financial profit.

WWF also warns that the 2030 SDG agenda will fail without the commitment of large and small businesses across the world.